How do you meld technology with grilled cheese sandwiches? You build a restaurant around the idea of ordering from mobile phones so the grilling can begin before customers walk in the door. No lines, no hassle. In the end everyone gets a nice little meal. That, anyway, is the idea of Jonathan Kaplan. He's the guy who made a fortune simplifying home video by inventing the Flip. His restaurants, called the Melt, will focus on grilled cheese because, he says, "they make people happy." He wants to open restaurants rather than sell the order system to others because that wouldn't make anyone but IT happy, and "what's the fun in that?" Those of you in San Francisco and Palo Alto can start lining up ordering in August, when the first of five Melts opens in the area. Kaplan sees 500 locations across the country in five years. Kaplan cheerfully compares the Melt to the Flip:

“Of course there are high-end grilled cheese restaurants just like there were high-end camcorders, and of course there are cheap ones, but there was no product that could capture the hearts and minds the way the Flip did, and the Melt is going to be the same,” Mr. Kaplan said.

If anyone knows a high-end grilled cheese restaurant, could you let me know? Source: The New York Times Photo: The Melt